Antonio Cromartie reportedly got a vasectomy in 2011

Typically we try to keep our noses out of athletes’ personal affairs (actually, no we don’t — at all), but sometimes a piece of information comes along that is just too entertaining to pass up. Like, for example, the fact that New York Jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie got a vasectomy in 2011.

Those of you who are familiar with Cromartie or watched “Hard Knocks” in 2010 know why that is so noteworthy. Cromartie has fathered 10 children by eight different women. The 29-year-old has so many kids that he struggled to remember all of their names during an infamous “Hard Knocks” interview.

“Walk-throughs the day before the game were uninteresting to most players, but not to Cromartie, who could never spend enough time on a football field,” Dawidoff wrote. “Cro had recently submitted to a vasectomy — ‘I got snipped,’ as he told [Dawidoff]. Eric Smith surveyed the jubilant, excised cornerback and said fondly, ‘I wish it had calmed him down!’”

That’s a relief. Cromartie turned down a proposal to do a reality show with his incredibly large family last year, which was probably a wise choice. It wasn’t nearly as brilliant as his decision to sterilize himself.